As a homeowner, it’s important that you take the necessary steps to protect your home from damage. One type of damage that can leap out of control very quickly is fire. Homes are filled with tons of items and make perfect kindling to keep a fire rolling. Being able to put out a fire in its very early stages can help protect the items in your home. However, when you make the decision to purchase fire extinguishers for your home, you’re poised with the question of how many to get. Also, you want to make sure to get the right kind of fire extinguisher for your situation, household, and dangers. Here is a good guide on the classes of fire extinguishers.
The truth of the matter is that it highly depends on the specifics of your home. There are a lot of variations between different types of homes. Some people have a ranch-style home, while others have two-story homes. Some have multiple kitchens, while other people have wood stoves and fireplaces. For this reason, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Rather, you’re going to need to assess the attributes of your individual home to discover just how many fire extinguishers you’ll need to purchase.
Start With Your Kitchen
The room that most people think about having a fire extinguisher in is the kitchen. Because most house fires start in the kitchen, this makes perfect sense. When buying a fire extinguisher, you’ll want to get one that is labeled as Class B. Class B fire extinguishers put out flammable oils and grease. This is extremely important when trying to put out a grease fire because simply pouring water on it will not do the job.
When placing your Class B fire extinguisher, it’s a good idea to have it within about 30 feet of your stove. This is because the stove is the most likely place that you’ll need to use it. However, be mindful of your placement as you still want to be able to have access to the fire extinguisher in the event that a fire is happening. Putting a fire extinguisher within a couple of feet of the stove can result in an inability to reach the fire extinguisher in the event that’s there is lots of smoke and flames. If you have a small kitchen, you may want to put the fire extinguisher in the closest room. This will ensure that it’s still accessible to use in the kitchen if a fire does break out.
At Heat Sources
Homes can be heated in a variety of manners. You may have a furnace, wood stove, pellet stove, coal stove, or something else. Since about one-fifth of all home fires start at a heating source, it’s highly advisable that you put a fire extinguisher near it. When it comes to placing the fire extinguisher, make sure that it is at least a good 15 feet from the heating source. This would ensure that you can still access the fire extinguisher even if there are flames coming out of your heating source.
If you’re like most homeowners, you may have two different types of heating sources. Many opt for having a furnace for most of their heating needs and then fill in areas with electrical space heaters. It’s a good rule of thumb to have a fire extinguisher Within close proximity to all sources of heat that your home has. So if you have both a furnace and a space heater, you want to have two different fire extinguishers. Heating sources that are within close proximity to each other may only need one fire extinguisher.
Bedrooms
When fires happen at night time, it’s likely that you will not realize it until after the fire spreads. For this reason, it’s a good idea to have a fire extinguisher in each bedroom in your home. This way, each person will have easy access to a fire extinguisher in the event that they need to use it to exit the home. Even when it comes to children’s bedrooms, you should put a fire extinguisher in each one of them. This ensures that no matter what room of your home that someone is in, they can grab a fire extinguisher if necessary.
Each Floor
It’s highly advisable to have a fire extinguisher on every floor of your home. While most of your living space will be covered based on the fire extinguisher requirements that we went over above, not all of it will be. You want to have a fire extinguisher in both your basement and your attic. This way, it’s accessible to you regardless of where you’re at in your home. Remember that the earlier you catch the fire and work to put it out, the less likely it is to spread and create damage to your home. Having fire extinguishers close to staircases are a great way to ensure that you’ll be able to access the fire extinguisher regardless of where the fire is at on each floor.
As you can see, understanding how many fire extinguishers you need in your home really depends on the individual factors of your home. By following the guidelines that we went over above, you’ll be able to figure out the exact number of fire extinguishers that you’ll need to safely protect your home from fire damage. Be sure when you are purchasing fire extinguishers that you are picking out the right class. Each fire extinguisher has a class rating that helps to signify what type of fire it can be used for. For example, grease fires and electrical fires require specific classes of fire extinguishers. Keep this in mind when picking out the fire extinguishers that you’ll need for your home.
